We’ve just come out of the major toy-giving season of the year. Children have the fun of playing with new toys. Parents have the joy of seeing them love new toys.
In fact, every year a watchdog consumer group, The World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (WATCH), issues a list of the 10 Worst Toys. These toys, because of defective design, cheap materials, or both, can be very dangerous to children playing with them. Many of them can cause harm not only to these children, but to people in the vicinity as well.
WATCH has been compiling this list for 44 years to help parents and other gift-givers buy only the safest toys.
Injuries Related to Toys on the Rise
Toys can be fatal. Toy-related accidents killed 61 children between 2010 and 2014. More than 250,000 children were injured by toys in 2014 alone. Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit organization, reports that 516 children have to be rushed to emergency rooms daily for toy-related injuries. Over one-third of these children are the age of 5 or younger.
Not only are these figures frightening, but the statistics indicate that unsafe toys are increasing. In the 21 years between 1990 and 2011, the number of toy-related injuries in children climbed by 40%. WATCH indicates that the climb is due to unsafe design, poor manufacturing, and lack of proper safety considerations.
More than 800,000 toys have been recalled since last year. Over 500,000 of them occurred just in 2016. Nineteen toys had safety defects serious enough to have them taken off shelves completely.
Over 65% of toys are sold during the December holiday period. But of course, children playing with toys doesn’t end there. Your children could have been hurt already, or be playing with an unsafe toy.
The 10 Worst Toys for 2016
The following are WATCH’s 10 Worst Toys for 2016.
- Peppa Pig’s Muddy Puddles Family. Reason: choking hazards.
- The Kids Time Baby Children’s Elephant Pillow. Reason: potential suffocation, and no warning label.
- The Slimeball Slinger. Reason: risk of eye injury. The slingshot can travel more than 30 feet.
- The Banzai Bump n’ Bounce Body Bumpers. Reason: impact hazards or bodily harm, and no protective equipment.
- The Nerf Rival Apollo XV-700 Blaster. Reason: risk of eye injuries.
- The Good Dinosaur Galloping Butch. Reason: risk of skin puncture from a pointy, rigid dinosaur tail.
- Peppy Pups. Reason: strangulation risk in young children from a 31-inch pull string.
- The Flying Heroes Superman Launcher. Reason: eye injury hazards from the launcher.
- The Baby Magic Feed and Play Baby. Reason: choking hazards from small pieces. No warning given.
- The Warcraft Doomhammer. Reason: Potential bodily harm from the heavy, rigid hammer. Children can see the Doomhammer used as a weapon in video games and movies. This may encourage them to use it that way themselves, which is even more of a risk.
Dangerous toys & Product Liability
If your child was injured by an unsafe toy, the law firm of Kantrowitz, Goldhamer & Graifman, P.C. is here to help.
All consumers have a right to expect that a product used for its intended purpose be safe. Product liability refers to a manufacturer’s responsibilities to sell safe products to consumers and be honest in advertising. If accidents or even death occurs as a result of design or manufacturing defects or a failure to warn, the makers may be held liable in a court of law.
Attorney Barry S. Kantrowitz has decades of expertise and experience handling product liability cases. To discuss your case free of charge, call us at (800) 711-5258 or fill out the form on our website to schedule a consultation in our Rockland County, NY or Bergen County, NJ offices.
Additional Toy Safety Resources:
- Safe Kids Worldwide. “Toy Safety.” https://www.safekids.org/safetytips/field_risks/toy-safety
- World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (WATCH). “W.A.T.C.H. Reveals Nominees for ‘10 Worst Toys’ for 2016 Holiday Season. November 15, 2016.